Cintas
Acquires Van Dyne AssetsCounselor Top 40 distributor
Cintas Corp. (asi/162167)
has acquired 20 uniform-rental
operations and five first-aid
services operations using the
name Select First Aid from distributorship
Van Dyne Crotty Inc. (asi/171951).
Terms were not disclosed. The
agreement does not include Van
Dyne’s Ritz safety division,
which will continue to operate
as an independent firm. No management
of Van Dyne will become part
of Cintas. The purchased operations,
largely in the Midwest and Southwest,
will now use the Cintas name.
Van Dyne’s promotional
products activity will be merged
into Cintas’.

“Scott
Farmer [Cintas president/CEO]
and

Dan
Crotty [Van Dyne president/CEO]
have had a longstanding friendship
and deep respect for each other’s
business,” says Pam Lowe,
Cintas vice president of corporate
communications. “Van
Dyne Crotty was built on the
kind of ethics and principles
that are very similar to the
Cintas culture. We saw it as
an excellent fit to our organization.”

Small
Business Confidence Is Up For
2006
Despite limited job growth
in December, the National Federation
of Independent Business (NFIB)
reports that optimism among
small-business owners is up
solidly over its 30-year average.
The new survey points to increases
in domestic spending in the
latter part of 2005, including
inventory investment, capital
spending and general expansion. “Consumers may cut back a little, but increased
government and investment spending could offset much of the decline,” says
William Dunkelberg, NFIB chief economist. “Domestically, things look pretty
good for a solidly performing economy in 2006.”

Awards
All Star Incentive Marketing
(asi/117110)
has named Turfer Sportswear
LLC (asi/92354)
its supplier of the year,
and Vanessa Ericsson
of Pilgrim Plastic Products
Inc. (asi/78100)
its customer-service
person of the year.

American Solutions for
Business (asi/120075)
was awarded a Gold Work-Life
Champions Award in the
large company category
by the state of Minnesota.
The award recognizes employers
that promote better work-life
balance for employees.

BrandVia Alliance LLC
(asi/145037) has
named TRG Group (asi/90507)
one of its top suppliers.

Hub
Pen Co. (asi/61966)
has been named a top
10 supplier by distributor
Geiger Inc. (asi/202900).

An
Idea For
Misprints
Have you
ever had
to throw
out misprinted
or miscolored,
but otherwise
sound,
products
because
the client
didn’t want its name on an inferior item? You
might want to tell them that they can help others who don’t care how perfect
the product is. A recent example was the multimillion dollar accumulation of
counterfeit Phat Farm, Nike and Rocawear T-shirts, sweat suits and jackets by
the New York City Police Department in a series of raids. At first, designers
wanted them all destroyed, but the city eventually persuaded them to put them
to better use by donating them to Hurricane Katrina victims who still need basics.
The positive PR and possible tax deductions to charity causes can make such donations
good for everyone involved.

In
The News
Grapevine
Designs LLC
(asi/212829)
was recently
profiled
in a KansasCity.com article
on women
business
owners.

Jody Franklin-Tippett,
president
of Millennium
Marketing
Solutions
Inc. (asi/271245),
was profiled
on TheWBALChannel.com.

Wanted:
Distributor
Self-Promotions
Think
your
latest
self-promotion
was a
cut above
the rest?
Did it
turn
up new
leads, break into new markets or push creative boundaries? If so, we’d
like to hear about it. Counselor’s newest monthly section will
showcase an innovative distributor self-promotion. And if your self-promotion
is used in the magazine, you will get a free one-year subscription to Counselor.
Send a brief description of your promotion to Matt Histand at mhistand@asicentral.com.

People
On the
Move
Bankers Advertising Co. (asi/131650) has named Steve Ruckdaschel a regional
recruiting manager.

Bodek and
Rhodes (asi/40788)
has named
Bruce Curry
(Southern)
and Russ
Garrow (Northern)
its sales
reps for
New England.

Charles
River Apparel
(asi/44620)
has named
Vanessa Keefe
director
of marketing.

Cintas Corp.
(asi/162167)
has named
Karen Carnahan
vice president
of corporate
development
and Mike
Thompson
vice president/treasurer.

Beverly Hills Bottle Now Available Across the
USA! PLWC asi/79349 - Whether
you are celebrating, having a fundraiser or just gathering
for a corporate event, our CUSTOM LABELED BOTTLED WATER is
the PERFECT accompaniment. LANYARDS BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! View Special...

Hot 1st Qtr Golf Specials From Par One!asi/75912 - The
latest and greatest in golf is brought to you by Par One Golf
Specialties. Check out what's New for 2006, our spectacular NIKE
BLOW OUT SALE, and special packaging that is sure to make your
event or golf outing great!View Special...

If you'd like us to send Counselor
PromoGram FREE to anyone else at
your company (or to your off-site sales
reps), just send us a list of email addresses
to CounselorPromoGram@asicentral.com and
we'll take care of the rest.